Blog Post #2: The Building Process

Day 1: On the first day, there really wasn’t much we could do. We planned out who was going to bring what for the following few days and we tried to get started on our circuits but the light bulbs were just not working. We probably spent the majority of the class trying to find proper bulbs and wire. We also drew everything out on our box and planned out how we were going to decorate it. Although we never got to the decoration part, it was still fun designing.

Day 2: On Thursday, we finally got ahead with our circuits. We got the 2 bathrooms, the bedroom and we made the circuit for the kitchen, we just didn’t have time to attach it. It was a really productive day but overnight, the few bulbs we had just stopped working. Again, we spent a lot of time trying to find ones that functioned. Attaching everything in the box was pretty hard too but we developed a good strategy. My partner would hold the box and the bulb from the other end and I would tape it down really quickly. After a while, everything would keep falling out so we had to resort to multiple layers of tape on the same spot. Kind of wasteful but oh well. In the end it was a good day.

Day 3: Friday was stressful. One of our bulbs we had already attached blew out, my friend forgot to bring the last battery and this was the final day for our project. We rushed through everything, finished up our circuits, debated decorating it and found an extra battery. We were not prepared but we got everything done. We had worked on the house a little bit over lunch but we couldn’t do too much because we didn’t have the right supplies. Although, we did make the last circuit and we did fix a couple of the taping problems. All in all it was a good day and I’m relieved we don’t have to worry about the project over the weekend.

Think: My partner and I had used our time in class to plan out the box, sort out who was bringing what and how we were going to make the circuits. We followed our plan pretty well and although we had a few mishaps, I’m still proud of the project.

Make: Making the house was really fun. The circuits look complicated but once you know how it works, it’s pretty easy. The two things we struggled with were finding light bulbs and wire and making sure everything stayed attached to the bottom. We were always testing the light bulbs and when one of them blew out, we fixed it immediately.

Improve: When my partner forgot the battery, a lot of time was spent trying to find another one. We did get a 1.5 V battery but it wasn’t working when we taped the wire to it. It might have had to do with the circuit or the tape, but we just needed to get another one. Thankfully, our classmate saved us and she let us use one of her batteries since she finished her project. For future reference, I should have read through the criteria properly and realized that I needed to take pictures throughout the process, but we didn’t. Also, I would have liked to have more time to work on the project. I know that’s something that couldn’t really be controlled but we could have maybe done our test before Winter Break so that we could have until Tuesday to work on our project like the other class.